March 4, 2008
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

MAN ARRESTED FOR FEBRUARY PHARMACY ROBBERY 

A man charged with the February robbery of a Deltona grocery store pharmacy was arrested Monday after admitting to family members that he had committed the crime. The suspect’s parents told Volusia County Sheriff’s Office investigators what they had learned, and investigators then obtained a warrant Monday charging Lee Shaffer with robbery. The 27-year-old turned himself in at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach later that day. 

The Sheriff’s Office was notified that there was a robbery at the Publix pharmacy, 605 Courtland Blvd., on the afternoon of Feb. 23. The suspect walked up to the pharmacy drop-off counter and presented a hand written note that said, “Give me Oxycontin 80mg, I have a gun.” The pharmacist got some Oxycontin bottles out of a cabinet and handed them to the robber. He then grabbed his note and fled the store. 

The following week, Shaffer’s parents told investigator Bryan Ford that other relatives had told them that Shaffer had admitted to being the robber. They then confronted Shaffer, who lives in his parent’s Deltona home with his wife and daughter, and he once again admitted to the robbery. However, he refused to go with his parents to talk with Ford. For verification, Ford showed the parents surveillance video from the grocery store of the suspect and they confirmed it was their son. Ford also later presented a store employee a photo lineup, and she was able to pick out Shaffer. 

Ford then obtained the warrant, and Shaffer turned himself in on Monday at about 12:51 p.m. Shaffer is being held on $10,000 bond. He also faces a violation of probation charge out of Seminole County.